


The Assistant

by Gothic_Lolita



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Feels, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Civil War Never Fucking Happened, Flashbacks, Fluffy Ending, HYDRA!Tony, I Don't Even Know, I'm Bad At Summaries, M/M, Protective Bucky Barnes, Tony As The Assistant, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 10:02:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12651339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gothic_Lolita/pseuds/Gothic_Lolita
Summary: When Steve is introducing Bucky to the Avengers, Bucky swears that he knows Tony Stark from somewhere.Then he remembers the assistant.





	The Assistant

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is a semi-common trope within WinterIron, but damnit, I wanted to try my hand at writing it!   
> I actually love how this one came out. It's angsty, it has flashbacks, it has feels, it has HYDRA, basically everything we need in a good WinterIron fic!

"And this is Tony, Tony Stark." Steve finished, gesturing to a man in a stained tank top and tight jeans.

Steve had been dragging Bucky around the Tower, introducing him to everyone. Bucky was overwhelmed, to be honest. He went from being the Asset back to being Bucky Barnes, a man he felt like he barely even knew himself, in the matter of a few weeks. He was found by SHIELD, reunited with Steve, and thrown into Avengers custody. It was all so fast, Bucky could barely keep up.

The guy, Tony Stark, spun around to face Steve and Bucky.

Bucky expected meeting Tony to be painful because of everything surrounding Howard. But one look into those mocha eyes and Bucky's gut clenched. He knew that face. He didn't know how or why, but damnit, he  _ **knew that face**_.

"Do I know you?" Bucky blurted out before he could stop himself.

Steve set a hand on his shoulder. "Buck, you remember Howard, from the war? Tony is Howard's son." He explained, slowly.

Bucky shook his head. "No, not from that, punk. I swear I  ** _know_**  him..."

Bucky studied Tony, raking his eyes over the man and-

 _ **Oh**_. He had- he had the glowing circle in his chest. The arc reactor.

Bucky slowly looked back up, making eye contact with Tony. He opened his mouth, but Tony cut him off.

"You must be confusing me with Howard." Tony smiled, but it was too forced.

Bucky couldn't stop the word that came out of his mouth. "Assistant."

Tony bristled and Bucky watched his jaw twitch as if he was desperately holding in the natural response he was taught as if he was trying to hold back the word on the tip of his tongue.  _Asset_.

"What?" Steve asked, frowning.

"Nothing," Tony said, smiling at Steve. "I finished fixing your shield, by the way." He changed the topic.

Steve's eyes lit up. "You did? Thank you so much, Tony."

"It's in my shop, you can go grab it." Tony offered, turning away from them.

"Thank you!" Steve repeated, and ran out of the room, leaving Bucky and Tony alone.

"Don't _ **ever**_  call me that again," Tony growled, glaring at Bucky, then storming out. 

 

* * *

 

_The asset was being escorted to the chair. He had to be wiped again, before the next mission._

_"Asset." Pierce's voice caught his attention. The asset obediently looked over, awaiting an order. Instead, he was shown a... boy._

_He was in his late teens, early twenties, perhaps. He wore tac gear and the same dead gaze that the asset did. He had an agent on either side, whether guarding him or keeping him in check, the asset wasn't sure._

_"This is the assistant." Pierce continued, setting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "He will be helping you with missions. He's already been prepped for fieldwork."_

_Ah. So they had already wiped him, coded in the words. The asset studied him._

_His build was so small the tac gear almost didn't fit him. He was scrawny, sickly, almost. The asset supposed that could be a tactic in itself, being an unsuspecting weapon in disguise. But the dead gaze in his eyes, the vacancy of emotions, was clear. He was ready for a mission._

 

* * *

 

Bucky watched Tony leave, biting his lip. Well, at least he was alive.

So the assistant's real name was Tony. He was also Howard's son. Bucky wondered if the assi-Tony, if  _ **Tony**_  had trouble remembering his past as well. He wasn't in HYDRA's grasp for as long as Bucky had been, but for Bucky, he was positive that it could've only been 70 minutes instead of seventy years, and it still would've haunted him.

There were just some things you didn't come back from.

 

Steve convinced Bucky to take his arm to Tony when it started haywiring. Bucky made Steve promise to stay the entire time and to do all the talking. Steve wholeheartedly agreed.

They marched into the workshop and Steve had to grab Bucky's arm to stop him from running.

"Hey, Tony?" Steve called out, catching the billionaire's attention. 

Tony turned, and he tensed, seeing Bucky and Steve. It was a minuscule tightening of muscle, Bucky wasn't even sure if Steve had noticed. "Hey Winghead, what's up?" Tony said, forcing a smile.

"I- well, we- were wondering if you could fix Bucky's arm up?" Steve asked, giving that perfect puppy dog look.

"Of course, come 'ere." Tony gestured them over, tapping a bench for Bucky to sit on. "JARVIS, run diagnostics on the arm, show me some schematics." He ordered.

Bucky tilted his head to the side slightly as he sat down. Wouldn't Tony know exactly how the arm worked?

 

* * *

 

_The asset stared out the window, waiting for their evac to arrive._

_The mission had gone over surprisingly well. The assistant proved to be very useful on the field, both physically and mentally. HYDRA must've given him some form of training. Though his tactical knowledge, his ability to understand technology, seemed to have a level of natural talent to it. The asset was impressed._

_While the asset was trained to stand and wait, to be patient, for as long as required, he was a bit restless. Perhaps it was the thrill, the change in paradigms, of working with someone else, that had him on edge. He went to pace, folding his arms._

_The metal arm got stuck in a position._

_Well. The doctors and technicians were going to have to fix that when they got back. The asset couldn't be malfunctioning. It would risk failure for missions. For now, it was going to be nothing more than a mild annoyance. The asset narrowed his eyes slightly, glaring at it._

_"I can fix it."_

_The words startled the asset. Very rarely did things startle the asset, but he had never heard the assistant speak, and an unfamiliar voice filling his ears was unexpected. The asset glanced over at him._

_The assistant shrugged. "Simple biomechanics. It'd take a few minutes, at most."_

_The asset considered it. He didn't have orders going against such actions, but nor did he have orders allowing them. It took a few long moments before he decided to let the assistant fix it. After all, it was the assistant's job to assist him._

_He sat down, and the assistant used a knife to pry open the control panel. The asset watched with curiosity._

_The technicians were always rough, and the work on the arm was painful. The used long metal tools, digging around in the colored wires and metal, their work unforgiving._

_The assistant used his bare fingers, with a nimble carefulness. There were faint twitches of pain, but otherwise, it was only vaguely uncomfortable. When he finished, snapping the panel back shut, the asset noticed the arm as a whole was much more fluid and easier to use._

_The asset studied the assistant for a moment. He said something he wasn't sure he had ever actually told someone before. "Thank you."_

 

* * *

 

If Tony noticed Bucky's confusion, he ignored it. When diagrams were pulled up, he started working on Bucky's arm. He used tools. It hurt.

The room was awkwardly silent, no one attempted small talk. Bucky was a bit ashamed that he jumped when JARVIS' voice echoed through the room.

" **Captain Rogers, Miss Romanoff has requested your presence**."

"Can it wait?" Steve asked, looking up at the ceiling.

There was a pause. " **I'm afraid she's rather insistent, Captain Rogers. Shall I tell her you're busy**?"

"You can go." Bucky sighed. 

"No, Buck, I can-"

"Go, you stupid punk," Bucky growled, giving him a half-hearted glare.

Steve smiled. "Thank you." He looked back to the ceiling. "Tell Nat I'll be right there." Steve walked out of the workshop.

For a while, it was silent, now awkwardly so.

Bucky looked around at the cases upon cases of Iron Man suits.

"Are those your suits?" Bucky asked though it was really a rhetorical question.

Tony glanced up for a moment. "Yeah." He grunted.

"Why do you use them? You don't need any suit." Bucky couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth. "You're a weapon, suit or no suit."

Tony's work paused, and his glare was fierce. "No. I'm.  _ **Not**_." He snarled.

Bucky narrowed his eyes slightly. "Who are you trying to convince, assistant?" He asked, voice quiet. Bucky wasn't trying to provoke Tony, but he couldn't help it. He had accidentally trained himself into having too loose of a tongue around the assist-Tony, around  _ **Tony**_.

Tony slammed his fists down on the table, tossing his tools aside. "Shut up, just shut up!" He screamed, clutching his head. His breathing became rapid and he started to shake.

" **Sir, please breath**." JARVIS' voice filled the room. " **Today is November 5th, your name is Anthony Edward Stark, son of Howard Stark and Maria Stark. Your birthday is May 29th, 1970. You are Iron Man, an Avenger. You are currently in your workshop in the Avengers Tower, New York City. You had oatmeal and coffee for breakfast this morning. I am your AI, Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, that you built. Please breath, sir**." While the list off of facts was monotoned, Bucky swore that towards the end, JARVIS actually sounded worried, concerned for Tony.

"Tony Stark, Tony Stark, Tony Stark," Tony repeated to himself, a mantra.

 

* * *

 

_"Do you remember your name?" The assistant asked, one day, while they were in the middle of a mission. It was strange, neither of them was programmed for small talk._

_"I'm the asset. The Winter Soldier." The asset monotoned, not looking up._

_"No, your name." The assistant clarified. "Before you were the asset?"_

_The asset looked over at him. "I didn't have one."_

_"Are you sure? What did they call you when you were a child?"_

_The asset paused. Was he sure? What_ **_did_ ** _they call him, when he was young? He frowned. "I don't remember." He admitted._

_The assistant nodded slowly. "Neither do I."_

_For the first time he could remember, the asset felt confusion, fear. He wasn't programmed to feel fear._

 

* * *

 

Bucky knew he should do something, knew he should try to help Tony. But he didn't know what to do. 

"Tony," Bucky said, forcing himself to speak. "Tony!"

Tony looked up at him, eyes too unfocused, too.... vacant. "Asset?" He narrowed his eyes, frowning.

Bucky shook his head. "No, Tony. What's my name?"

"Who... who the hell is Tony?" Tony croaked, still out of it, despite JARVIS' help.

"You are. Come on Tony, remember. What's my name?" Bucky prodded.

Tony studied him, narrowed eyes. "James?" The word was drawn out into two syllables.

Well, that was some sort of progress.

 

* * *

 

_"James." The asset startled himself with the word, as they sat in a HYDRA base, alone and awaiting orders._

_The assistant looked up at him. "Pardon?"_

_"My name was James." The asset repeated, startled by his own knowledge._

_"James." The assistant tried it out. "I like James." He decided._

_The asset thought for a moment. He liked James too. He especially liked it on the assistant's tongue._

 

* * *

 

"That's close," Bucky admitted. "But I go by Bucky now, remember? And you're Tony, right? You're Iron Man."

"I'm Iron Man." Tony echoed. "I. Am. Iron. Man." His words become more forceful, angry. " ** _I am Iron Man_**!" He shouted, slamming his hand down on the table so hard that it collapsed under his blow.

The room fell silent again, save Tony's heavy breathing. When his breathing calmed, the room was finally silent. "I'm Iron Man." He whispered.

Tony quietly picked the table back up, reorganizing everything back onto it, including Bucky's arm. He finished his work, and closed the control panel, avoiding eye contact the entire time.

Bucky was just getting up to leave as Steve reappeared.

"Sorry, Nat just wanted some help moving furniture." He said, voice a bit breathless. "Nothing happened, right?" He asked, mildly alarmed.

"Nothing other than a severe case of awkward silence." Tony snorted, lying through his teeth. Bucky nodded in agreement.

Steve took Bucky's arm and dragged him out of the workshop. Bucky couldn't stop himself from looking over his shoulder, staring at Tony the entire time.

 

* * *

 

_The sound of the assistant hitting the mat was a heavy thud. He pushed himself to his feet, cupping a bleeding nose._

_They were training, working on improving the assistant's skill on the field. While he was impressive in fighting, he wasn't nearly as good as the asset. The asset was determined to change that._

_The nose was only bruised and bleeding, not broken. The asset had been perfectly precise with the amount of force to use. He didn't like hurting the assistant, but he knew it was necessary, to teach him how to fight those who weren't holding back when they swung at him._

_It somewhat peeved the asset that the assistant had an unfair disadvantage. He didn't have the serum, nor a metal arm. The asset didn't understand why HYDRA didn't give the assistant either. Because by now, he was really more of a partner than actual assistant to the Winter Soldier._

_The asset was no longer sent on missions without the assistant, even when he had no real use. They knew each other on the field as well as they knew themselves and could fight in perfect tandem without ever speaking a word. The asset knew that the assistant preferred a Glock 30, and the assistant knew the asset preferred an SR-25 sniper. For this reason, they both had spare ammo of each other's favorite guns on their person at all times, even if they weren't armed with such._

_The assistant was never given an official name, the way the asset was known as the Winter Soldier. As he improved and became more deadly, the assistant was more often than not referred to as a Winter Soldier as well. The asset thought he deserved the title._

_The whispers, the ghost stories of the Winter Soldier slowly began to shift, within the underground community. Soon, everyone whom it was relevant to knew that if they were to ever be found by a man with shoulder length hair and a metal arm, and a teenage boy with a pretty face, that had matching tac gear and vacant eyes, one thing was for certain. You weren't going to make it out alive._

_It was no longer the Winter Soldier. It was now the Winter Soldiers, twice as many, and infinitely more deadly._

 

* * *

 

About a week later, the Avengers Tower was attacked. It was nothing too major, and having some of the Avengers, not even in their gear, in the living room fighting the intruders off was enough.

It was Natasha, Clint, Tony, Steve, and Bucky. After falling into the flow of combat, he hadn't even noticed just how ritualistic and HYDRA-programmed his fighting had gotten until Clint commented on it when the fight was over.

"That's weird." Clint mused, clearly addressing Bucky.

"What's weird?" Bucky asked, turning to him.

Clint tilted his head to the side. "Well I mean, as Cap's old war buddy, it'd be assumable for you to work the best with him, right?" Bucky nodded slowly, not following. "Then why the hell did you and Tony start fighting side by side like second nature?" He arched an eyebrow.

Tony snorted. "I don't know what you're talking about, Legolas." He folded his arms.

Clint only narrowed his eyes. "JARVIS, bring up footage of the fight, focusing on Tony and Bucky."

A holographic image appeared, and footage began to play. Sure enough, Bucky and Tony were back to back almost the entire mini battle. They relied on each other's every move, at one point, Bucky even hooked his elbows with Tony's and backflipped Tony over him so Tony could land on a thugs shoulders and snap his neck. Anyone who'd watch them fight would assume that they had spent years perfecting the ability to work together so smoothly.

When the footage ended, Clint spoke again. "See, at first it floored me that tincan could even  _ **move**_  like that, because face it, that type of fighting takes serious skill. After watching that, I'm pretty sure Tony could take almost all of the Avengers' hand to hand. But working with Bucky, I'm positive the two of you could take on the rest of the Avengers at once, unarmed." Clint narrowed his eyes even more. "Do you know how long it takes to learn how to move with someone like that? It's not something that can naturally be picked up. Nat and I have been working together for years, and even we can't move like that." He tilted his head to the side.

Tony huffed. "Don't you think you're looking into this too-"

"No, I'm not, and you know it." Clint interrupted. "I have a theory." He folded his arms, tilting his head back. "The Winter Soldier has always been a bit of a legend within intelligence agencies." He shrugged. "Everyone knows that. But, not everyone remembers when it was the Winter Soldiers. Two. For a while, about ten years by my count, the Winter Soldier had a partner. He was known as the teenage boy with a pretty face." Clint continued, starting to pace. "Now oddly enough, during the time these stories started, of the Winter Soldier having a partner, an eighteen-year-old Tony Stark had gone missing. He was missing for about ten years. And the strange thing was when he came back, he didn't look like he aged one damned bit." He faced Tony directly now. "You covered it up with saying that you were kidnapped and experimented on, stunting aging a bit. Which is strange, because you aged just fine after you came back. Really, you're only biologically about ten years behind your chronological age."

"Barton," Tony growled, his glare dangerous.

"I'm not done," Clint said. "What is known to slow aging? Cryogenic sleep chambers. Who has cryogenic sleep chambers? And more specifically, who did they use them on?" He rose his eyebrows. "Don't make me spell it out, man."

"Are you insinuating that Tony... was a second Winter Soldier?" Steve asked, looking floored by just the thought of it.

Clint shrugged. "I don't know. I guess that's for Tony to answer." 

Everyone looked at Tony. Tony tensed for a moment, then forced himself to relax. "I don't know what you're talking about." He snapped. "I don't know why you would even think that."

"желание," Natasha said, startling everyone. "ржaвый.   Семн-"

"Stop it!" Tony shrieked, clamping his hands over his ears. Bucky was having a similar reaction, clutching his head and breathing harshly. Tony to his knees. "I'm Iron Man, I'm Iron Man, I'm Iron Man," The chant started again, mumbled under Tony's breath desperately.

"That answered that." Clint mused.

"Tony, why the hell didn't you tell us?" Steve demanded.

"Leave him the hell alone!" Bucky snarled, startling himself. His hands were still shaking, but he was more angry than afraid now. "Haven't you all antagonized him enough?" Bucky snapped.

Bucky bent over, supporting Tony's weight, helping him walk.

"Asset?" Tony mumbled.

"Yeah, right here," Bucky promised, and helped Tony out of the room, ignoring the looks from everyone else.

 

* * *

 

_The asset was restless. He had been commanded to sit still and await orders, but for once, he was fighting to follow his orders. He couldn't stop fidgeting. The Winter Soldier didn't fidget._

_It was his fault. He was the asset, the more powerful one. He should've been paying attention to the assistant. He should've been anticipating that bomb._

_A mission had gone horribly wrong. An unexpected bomb had gone off. The asset was able to get them away from the blast, but not the shrapnel. The shrapnel that lodged itself into the assistant's chest, leaving him pale and twitching as he bled out._

_The asset was afraid. And upset. The assistant.... the asset had never cared about someone before. He cared about the assistant._

_They ordered the asset back into cryo. For the first time he could ever remember, the asset fought back._   
  


_When the asset was woken for a mission, and he saw the assistant waiting for him, hands folded in his lap and looking perfectly recovered, he felt a strange feeling wash over him._

_Relief? No, that wasn't quite right._

_Joy? No._

_Love._

 

* * *

 

Bucky helped Tony into Tony's private quarters, in his bedroom. He set Tony down on his bed.

"Assistant?" Bucky asked, not being able to stop himself from using that name.

Tony blinked a few times. " _Asset? Where are we?_ " He had flipped into speaking Russian, the way they were trained to.

"Stark Tower," Bucky said, fighting to speak English, despite what hardwired instincts told him to do. "We're in your home, remember?"

Tony stared at him, confused. " _Did we escape_?"

Bucky smiled sadly, switching into Russian. " _Yeah, we escaped_."

 

* * *

 

_The asset and the assistant were at a base, spending the night before evac arrived. When the assistant stripped his shirt, the asset looked over in mild alarm._

_"What is that?" He demanded, voice rough._

_The assistant glanced over. "This?" He tapped the glowing blue circle embedded in his chest. "It's called an arc reactor. They couldn't get the shrapnel out of my chest. So instead, I helped design a solution where they wouldn't need to."_

_The asset nodded. He didn't bother asking for a further explanation as to how it worked. He never really understood the science sorts of things that the assistant mastered. He was only glad that the assistant was alive. Safe._

_They were both silent, until the assistant spoke, startling the asset. The assistant always managed to startle the asset._

_"We should escape."_

_The asset blinked. "What?'_

_The assistant faced him, eyes a bit too wild. "We should escape. Runaway. Away from HYDRA. Away from being the asset and the assistant. Away from being the Winter Soldiers."_

_"Why?" The asset didn't understand._

_"Don't you get it? We're nothing more than tools, weapons. Don't you want to be something more?" The assistant pleaded._

_The asset frowned. He had never thought about that. He wasn't supposed to want. He was a weapon, he wasn't supposed to be anything else. "I don't know." He admitted._

_"What about me?" The assistant whispered. "What do you want for me? They almost got me killed. I'm not a super soldier, James. Sooner or later, one of us will die. And it's likely to be me." He pointed out. The assistant rarely called him James._

_The asset's gut twisted. He didn't want the assistant to die. He didn't want the assistant to be nothing more than a weapon. "Okay." He agreed before he even knew what he was doing. Seeing the assistant smile made it worth it._

_It almost worked. It was so close to working. They had been surviving on the run for almost a week now. They were so close._

_HYDRA found them and were seconds away from breaking in._

_"Run." The asset ordered, pushing the assistant towards a fire escape._

_"No!" The assistant snapped. "Not without the asset."_

_"Run. That's an order." The asset growled. The assistant could get away. If one of them stayed and got caught, the other one could get away. The other one would have a chance. The asset had always been more important to HYDRA anyway._

_The assistant stared at him with large, hesitant eyes. "I don't want to leave you."_

_"I'll come back for you." The asset promised. It was a lie. Though both knew he couldn't._

_The assistant finally nodded and started to leave._

_"Wait." The asset caught his arm. The assistant paused, fleeting hope in his eyes. "Promise me you won't come back for me."_

_The assistant squeezed his eyes shut. Then he did something the asset didn't expect._

_The assistant kissed the asset._

_It was hard and rushed. It was the best thing the asset had ever felt._

_"I promise." The assistant whispered, pulling away._

_"Good. **Go**!" The asset barked, shoving the assistant out the fire escape._

_The asset faced the door, waiting for the inevitable._

 

* * *

 

Tony tilted his head to the side. "Promise you won't ever leave again?" He asked. Bucky had no idea what Tony remembered and what he didn't. Bucky figured it was just a scrambled mess like his head was more often than not. At least Tony had managed to switch back to English.

"I promise," Bucky swore, meaning it this time. 

Tony kissed Bucky, though it was slow, languid. It was perfect.

"I love you, James," Tony whispered.

"I love you too, Tony." Bucky smiled.

Tony pulled away a moment. "Who the hell is Tony?" Bucky cringed, then Tony giggled. "I'm kidding." Bucky smiled in relief and kissed Tony.

 

 

After that, an official Avengers meeting was called, and Tony explained how he was kidnapped by HYDRA and made into a second Winter Soldier. He admitted that there were days he barely remembered a thing, and had just hidden away those days, or blamed it on his eccentricity. He told how after escaping (Bucky asked him to alter the story just a bit to only him escaping, not Bucky) he was found by Rhodes, and returned home, even though it took months for him to understand his real name was Tony Stark.

The Avengers were angry at first but come to a begrudging understanding of why Tony hid it. Tony was not happy that as a reciprocation for admitting all of this, he now had therapy sessions with Sam three times a week, just like Bucky.

After all was said and done, none of the Avengers were really surprised by the romantic relationship between Bucky and Tony. They relied on each other and more often than not were joined at the hip. They both often got confused and referred to each other as 'asset' and 'assistant', though Tony clearly tried to just call Bucky 'James' all the time.

Bucky knew his head was still a mess, and he had long ways of healing to go, and honestly, so did Tony. And being thrust into the future was overwhelming. But as long as the asset had his assistant, he knew he could handle anything. They did make one hell of a team.

**Author's Note:**

> I hate the ending part, and I feel like I can kind of do without it.   
> Oh well.


End file.
